Strange Issue at work - what would you do??

LegacyUser

I sit beside my colleague at work who for the last week or so, has started drinking out of those "sucky" bottles. You know like the sports drinks??? Maybe every 2-3 minutes she takes a swig-fine cant stop someone drinking water, but the noise she makes is very loud. Its bloody annoying. Imagine that same noise 50 times a day. Its really getting to me.

Do you think I should say something and if so what? I dont want to offend her as she is a lovely girl (albeit a bit hard to talk to sometimes). Ive tried to give the "what is that noise" look, but its not getting through. It is very distracting especially as the place we work is very quiet.

qwertz

Start doing the very same thing to see if she cops on.

Damokc

when she's not looking replace it with a glass bottle of water. is she squeezing it at the same time? or tell her that drinking from plastic bottles can be harmful to your health (there are links out there somewhere for it)

Mrs OBumble

Or you could try the mature adult approach and explain to her that the noise is stopping you from concentrating, and would she mind using a glass instead

MagicMarker

Seriously, how loud could it possibly be? I drink from the same bottles and don't make a sound, and I'm focusing too much on my own work to notice anyone else around me.

Kensington

Take it upon yourself to do a lively biro percussion solo on the side of the desk closest to them every time they do it.

Alternatively, just say straight up that it's irritating - do you know them well? (as in, would you be able to say "Jesus, could you make any more noise!" without causing offence?)

mattjack

where do you work ? a morgue

Bandana boy

StrangeIssue wrote: »

I sit beside my colleague at work who for the last week or so, has started drinking out of those "sucky" bottles. You know like the sports drinks??? Maybe every 2-3 minutes she takes a swig-fine cant stop someone drinking water, but the noise she makes is very loud. Its bloody annoying. Imagine that same noise 50 times a day. Its really getting to me.

Do you think I should say something and if so what? I dont want to offend her as she is a lovely girl (albeit a bit hard to talk to sometimes). Ive tried to give the "what is that noise" look, but its not getting through. It is very distracting especially as the place we work is very quiet.

You are going to need to come out and tell her
Do not be aggressive and try not to make it a criticism of her ,after all you are going to have to continue working with this lady.

Hi Sally ,I know this is going to sound petty but a pet peeve of mine is the noise that bottle makes ,I know it’s not really important but any chance you could swap for something else ,say it in a self depreciating manner and I think you will get what you want without generating tension between you.

looksee

I think those bottles are very difficult to get a decent drink from! Maybe she thinks they are 'cool'.

Does she really drink that much? Sounds as though she might have a problem. Take her a present of a nice insulated water bottle.

LegacyUser

She drinks out of it maybe 3/4 times every 5 mins. I work beside her for 7 hours.
The place I work requires high concentration. We do talk at times, but we might sit there for 3 hours with no words.
She also chews gum. Why do people not realise these things themselves?
I am not sure how to approach her.
Hi X,
Look, I need to say something about the bottle drinking. Its noisy and breaking my concentration...."
How do it say it nicely?

R.D. aka MR.D

If it was me i would just say to her -'oh jeez i have such a sore head today, every little noise is getting to me. I'm so so so sorry but would you mind just not drinking out of that noisy bottle. i could go get you an open neck bottle if you like. I'm so sorry I just feel like my head is about to explode. i'm not being rude.'

That way your kind of addressing the fact that the bottle is noisy but she can't really be to angry with you because you have the sore head.

Obviously a direct approach is best but sometimes that can be hard in some work situations.

qwertz

If the nice way doesn't work then pierce the base of the bottle with a needle. That will teach her...